Sporting Kansas City was eliminated from MLS Cup contention after losing to Houston 2-1 aggreagate over the span of two games. They finished the year as US Open Cup Champions and a Kansas City team record of 63 points.

Aurelien Collin has been around the world, and that’s just since Sporting Kansas City’s season ended Nov. 6 against Houston in the Eastern Conference final.

The well-traveled Collin, 25, a French-born central defender who signed with Sporting KC last April, flitted from New York to Lisbon and Madrid to Malta in recent months. He returned home to Paris for a few weeks then hit London and Brussels before wrapping up “his holiday” with two weeks in the Dominican Republic.

“Paris is still my favorite place,” Collin said. “It’s the most beautiful, but my two weeks in the Dominican Republic weren’t bad. I was training on the beach, so it was perfect.”

Of course, well-traveled also accurately describes Collin’s soccer resume, which includes youth stops in France and Spain followed by professional stints in Scotland, Greece and Portugal before agreeing to come play for manager Peter Vermes and Sporting KC in the United States.

He was, in some ways, the least likely player on Sporting’s roster to rise to cult-hero status. It’s likely few fans had heard of Collin before his arrival, and he doesn’t play a glamor position.

“He’s just a bit out there, and I guess people cling to that,” Vermes said. “Did I know that would happen? No, I don’t pay much attention to that kind of stuff. But he’s a bit of a nut job. He really is.”

Add it all up, and Collin might also be the perfect fit on and off the field for Sporting KC, which lost some veteran leadership and must rebuild some of the chemistry that helped the club claim the top seed in the Eastern Conference last season.

“He’s a great guy in the locker room, very lively and always up,” Vermes said. “You never see him down, so that is good for the environment.”

Collin isn’t afraid to mix it up. He led Sporting KC with 10 yellow cards last season.

“You need guys who are strong and aggressive in that position,” Vermes said, “and you want guys who are going to put a little fear in the other team.”

Maintaining that intensity during training occasionally creates on-field tension, but one of Collin’s gifts is the ability to smooth things over quickly with teammates or between teammates.

“He’s a connector of people,” Vermes said. “It’s not that he doesn’t like confrontation — that’s not the case — but he wants to resolve things quickly and move on.”

In much the same way, Collin pounces on every ball that comes near goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen’s box as if its presence is a personal affront. That seems to be the only speed he knows, but Vermes hopes to see a little more nuance from Collin this season.

“He’s so much like a pit bull, and he wants to win everything,” Vermes said. “Sometimes, if anything, he needs to relax a little and not be so aggressive. But outside of that, he’s so solid.”

With a younger roster than last season and a new mix of veterans, Collin’s contribution as a rallying fixture for fans as well as a peacemaker and stress-reliever in the locker room might be even more important.

“We have this thing between him and I where I always tell him, ‘You’re crazy but you’re not stupid,’ ” Vermes said. “He keeps things loose, and you need guys like that. Honestly, he has a little bit of the mentality of a goalkeeper. That’s probably the best way to describe him, and I think everybody knows the mentality of goalkeepers.”

With Sporting Kansas City about ready to bail on KC for the (only slightly) warmer climes of Tucson, Arizona, manager and technical director Peter Vermes is, by his own admission, "very, very happy" with his team after one week of training.

"At this point, I almost have to hold [the team] back a little bit," Vermes said after a crisp hour-and-a-half-long training session at the Arrowhead Indoor Training Facility on Friday. "That's not a bad thing."

Throughout the week, Vermes had sorted his team into "veterans" and "younger guys" in an effort to let the veterans "go about our business." By Friday, he felt that both groups had assimilated well to the team's plans to hold a combined session.

The team spent the training period focusing on speed drills and group attacking/defending.

The group attacking/defending drill -- which was five on three (including the 'keeper) -- focused on the attacking players switching positions and using overlapping wide players. The defenders would establish a two-man offside trap and look to stifle the attack.

It's a fun drill to watch because of its high-speed nature and the small attacking triangles the movement creates. It provided some very sweet goals by Soony Saad, Peterson Joseph, Michael Harrington, Seth Sinovic and Aurelien Collin among others.

On Sunday, the team will leave for Arizona, the period of training that Vermes referred to as "our evaluation period."

There will be some cuts on Saturday, according to Vermes. (I'm only speculating, but I wonder if guys like Supplemental Draftee Pablo Punyed and Full 90 favorite Birahim Diop -- both camp no-shows -- will be among those cut tomorrow.)

After the small cuts, the rest of the squad "will travel so we can evaluate guys on the big field, 11 v. 11, and see who can stick," Vermes said. "We don't have a lot of [roster] spots left. There are a lot of guys fighting for those few spots, but I'm not going to fill them just to fill them. I want to make sure the guy we bring is quality -- technically, tactically, physically and emotionally. The standard we have here now, the [new] guys have to conform to the group not the other way around."

I can tell you from first-hand experience, that's a massive change from the last two years when Vermes and his staff were trying to implement massive changes to the structure and tactical philosophy of the team.

As for any new players joining the team, Vermes said there is one guy the team is working on bringing into camp. "I don't know if he'll get his visa or not. He's coming from Sierra Leone. I can't tell you if he is [coming] or not right now. Yesterday, he went for his visa appointment." He may join the team in Arizona. Other than that, "We are working on a few guys to get in." He did not expand on that.

According to Thad Bell, the unnamed player was hanging around with his fellow country-man Kei Kamara last year and has trained with the Missouri Comets.

The U.S. national team trio of Graham Zusi, Teal Bunbury and C.J. Sapong will not start training until the team hits Tucson.

As for injuries: Roger Espinoza, who had been given the last two days off to heal from back spasms, was present today but spent the hour and a half running and stretching. Paulo Nagamura and Jacob Peterson are both rehabbing injuries -- Nagamura is close to full training and Peterson tweaked his leg during the week. Daneil Cyrus was not present, as he is reportedly dealing with a family issue.